In San Francisco, the Giants were down 2-0 heading into the 7th inning before Pablo Sandoval deposited a Mat Latos pitch into McCovey Cove. The Giants would tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning on an RBI ground out by Pat Burrell. The game would head to the 11th tied but the San Diego Padres wasted a first and third with one out situation. In the bottom of the 11th, Giants rookie Buster Posey collected a hit up the middle that was deflected by the middle infielders. He hustled into second base and would score on the base hit from Juan Uribe for a Giants walk-off 3-2 victory.

Kelly Shoppach's grand slam

In Tampa, it looked like the Baltimore Orioles were again going to get the best of the Rays early on after Adam Jones hit the left-field foul pole for a three-run homerun off starter Andy Sonnanstine in the 3rd inning. However Orioles starter Brian Matusz got into trouble in the bottom of the 4th inning as the Rays scored five runs, capped by a Kelly Shoppach grand slam. Shoppach would add another homerun in the 8th inning. Sonnanstine and the Rays bullpen would hold on for a 7-3 victory. Matusz dropped his 12th game to tie teammate Kevin Millwood for most losses in the American League.

With the Rays winning in the afternoon, both the NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox played at night. The Yankees’ Phil Hughes would struggle early on, but the Yankees offense would finally get to KC Royals starter Sean O’Sullivan. Jorge Posada, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez would all homer off him in the 6th inning, with A-Rod adding two more homeruns in his next two at-bats. Hughes and the Yankees bullpen would hold on for an 8-3 victory.

Felix Doubront gets the save

The Red Sox and Texas Rangers were involved in a pitcher’s duel between the Red Sox Jon Lester and the Rangers Colby Lewis. The Red Sox would score a single run off Lewis in the 5th inning and added two insurance runs in the top of the 9th inning. With closer Jonathon Papelbon and setup man Daniel Bard unavailable, the Red Sox went to Scott Atchinson for the save. Atchinson would allow a Josh Hamilton solo homerun and an infield single to Vladimir Guerrero with one out. Rookie left-hander Felix Doubront was summoned to face fellow rookie Mitch Moreland. With two strikes on Moreland, Guerrero tried to steal second base and was thrown out by a mile for the second out of the inning. Doubront then struck out Moreland for his first Major League save in the Red Sox 3-1 victory.

Alex Avila homerun

Edwin Jackson was again dominant for his new team, the Chicago White Sox, as he struck out 11 in seven innings of work against his former team, the Detroit Tigers. However JJ Putz could not close out the game in the 9th inning. Rookie Alex Avila hit a two-run homerun to give the Tigers the 3-2 lead and Phil Coke finished off the White Sox in the 9th to earn the victory.

With the White Sox loss, the Minnesota Twins had the opportunity to pick up a game on them. The Twins received a dominating pitching performance from Brian Duensing, who picked up his first career complete game shutout. He allowed just three hits while striking out four. Duensing outdueled Oakland A’s ace Trevor Cahill, who allowed just one run in seven innings. Cahill tied a Major League record (Nolan Ryan) of allowing six hits or less in five innings or more for 20 straight outings.

The Philadelphia Phillies received another dominating performance by Roy Halladay, as they beat the NY Mets at Citi Field for the first time this season. He also scored a run for the Phillies, which was the first they had scored in NY all year. Mets starter Pat Misch allowed four runs, though his performance was marred by poor defense, which cost him three runs.

LA Dodgers left-hander Ted Lilly dominated the Atlanta Braves, winning 2-1. The Braves loss moves the Phillies to within two games of first place in the NL East. Braves starter Derek Lowe limited the damage as the Dodgers collected 10 hits but scored just one run off him.